Resurrected Reviews No. 2

Ya Gotta Believe, by Tug McGraw and Don Yaeger

This is the second installment of Resurrected Reviews, where I dig up and revive a pre-TBR book review. This is a memoir of one of my favorite ballplayers while growing up. I  finished the book on Feb. 1, 2017.

One of the bad things about reading a memoir by one of your childhood heroes is finding out what an asshole he was. 

McGraw rushing off the
field after winning the
1973 National League
championship.

McGraw was the guy I copied when I pitched during softball games. He slapped his glove on his thigh, a move the 16-year-old me thought was so cool, so I did it as well.

He lead the New York Mets to the 1973 World Series with his extraordinarily great play, optimism, and exuberance.  He coined the phrase, "Ya Gotta Believe," which he had the whole city screaming out, and which has lived on.

But in this book, he describes how he used women, rejected one of his sons, and basically did as he pleased throughout life, regardless of the consequences to others. 

His only redeeming personal quality was that he told it all in this book, written as he was dying of brain cancer. 

It's a decent, if sad and disheartening, read.